A comparison of match analysis in soccer within the context of offside rule revision

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of a revised offside rule on the activity profile of players and the technical characteristics compared with matches played using the regular offside rule. A home/away league was established for the purpose of this study. For every home/away match, one game was played using the regular offside rule and other was played using the revised offside rule. The distance covered by 82 players during the games was measured by GPS. A computerized match analysis program was used for the notational analyses. The total distance (p<0.02), distance walking (p<0.03), distance jogging (p<0.05) and distances covered moving at moderate (p<0.02) and high running speeds (p<0.03) by players were significantly greater in competitions using the revised offside rule than in games using the regular offside rule. The number of short passes and dribbling were higher in competitions using the revised offside rule, whereas the number of long passes and offside calls were significantly decreased.